Daily Mass Gospel Reflection - Gathering In

Word on Fire Ministry ^ | 01.22.23 | Bishop Robert Barron

[MurphsLaw]

Matthew 4:12-23
Friends, in today’s Gospel,
Jesus begins his public ministry and calls his first disciples.

When Jesus emerged publicly and began preaching the kingdom of God,
he was taken to mean something very specific—namely,
that the tribes of Israel, scattered by sin, were being gathered.
The Israelite hope was that, in the Messianic era,
Israel would become a godly nation gathered around the common worship of the true God at the temple on Mount Zion,
and that this united Israel would become,
in turn, a beacon to the other nations of the world.
Jesus’ entire preaching and ministry should be read under this rubric of the great gathering.

Jesus gathered around himself a band of Apostles whom he shaped according to his own mind and heart and whom he subsequently sent on mission. Priests down through the centuries—from Augustine and Aquinas, to Francis Xavier and John Henry Newman, to John Paul II—are the descendants of those first friends and apprentices of the Lord.

They have been needed in every age, and they are needed today, for the kingdom of heaven must be proclaimed, the poor must be served, God must be worshiped, and the sacraments must be administered.

[MurphsLaw]

+++When Jesus heard that John
had been arrested,
he withdrew to Galilee.
He left Nazareth and went to
live in Capernaum by the sea,
in the region of Zebulun and
Naphtali,
that what had been said through
Isaiah the prophet
might be fulfilled:
Land of Zebulun and land of Naphtali,
the way to the sea,
beyond the Jordan,
Galilee of the Gentiles,
the people who sit in darkness
have seen a great light,
on those dwelling in a land
overshadowed by death
light has arisen.
From that time on, Jesus began
to preach and say,
“Repent, for the kingdom of
heaven is at hand.”

As he was walking by the Sea of
Galilee, he saw two brothers,
Simon who is called Peter,
and his brother Andrew,
casting a net into the sea;
they were fishermen.
He said to them,
“Come after me,
and I will make you fishers of men.”
At once they left their nets
and followed him.
He walked along from there and
saw two other brothers,
James, the son of Zebedee,
and his brother John. father Zebedee, mending their nets.
He called them, and immediately
they left their boat and their father
and followed him.
He went around all of Galilee,
teaching in their synagogues,
proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom,
and curing every disease and
illness among the people.+++